City Removes Rat Hole. Nooooo!

A preview of my story this week in Inside—Booster:

The Rat Hole: Before and After

The Chicago Department of Transportation removed the section of sidewalk in Roscoe Village on Wednesday with the animal impression frozen in the concrete—Chicago’s famous “Rat Hole.”

Early last Wednesday, CDOT workers removed and replaced sections of sidewalk and curb in the 1900 block of West Roscoe containing the Rat Hole. The animal impression in concrete has drawn nationwide attention in recent months. By mid-afternoon, a new sidewalk was poured. By early evening, the concrete had set and the forms were removed putting an end to the Rat Hole which some accounts said had been in place for twenty years.

CDOT’s Ambrosio Medrano, Jr., on the scene at the time of the removal said that the section of the sidewalk with the impression of the rodent was preserved and is in the possession of CDOT. Medrano said that the Rat Hole sidewalk would be given to the City’s Rodent Control Office in the Department of Streets and Sanitation. CDOT officials later would not confirm plans for the Rat Hole.

The animal impression gained notoriety in early January 2024 when a local artist posted his rat sculpture with the “rat hole.” Since then, it has blown up social media and news reports. A wedding is reported to have taken place at the Rat Hole. For a while in February, lines formed in the 1900 block of Roscoe to examine and leave tribute at the Rat Hole. It was regularly filled with coins like a European fountain, only smaller, and with a Chicago flair.

At least one purported expert who studied the Rat Hole believes that the impression is actually that of a squirrel that fell out of an adjacent large tree into wet cement when the sidewalk was first poured some twenty years ago. The impression is consistent with the anatomy of a squirrel rather than that of a rat was his hypothesis.

“This is definitely something we have not encountered before,” said Paul Sajovec, Alderman Waguespack’s chief of staff. Alderman Waguespack’s office has had lots and lots of complaints since January and February when people started visiting the 1900 block of Roscoe to check out the Rat Hole. Sajovec said, “the City’s 311 call center had received and forwarded numerous call to Alderman Waguespack’s office.

Alderman Waguespack contacted CDOT in late January or early February to “raise the issue” since this is a City infrastructure issue. Alderman Waguespack also discussed the Rat Hole directly with CDOT Commissioner Tom Karney.

“Some people were very vocal about immediately removing the sidewalk,” Sajovec said. The Alderman did not side with people who demanded that it be removed.

“It was CDOT’s decision to replace the sidewalk,” Sajovec said. It is not known when CDOT decided to remove sidewalk.

After reports of the Rat Hole removal, Alderman Waguespack’s office received mixed feedback from community members.

“Some people are pleased; some people are very upset [with removal of the Rat Hole]. The reactions are all over the board,” Sajovec said.  

This reporter’s tweet about the removal of the Rat Hole generated 462,000 view in two days on Twitter—also know as X.

CDOT had a slightly different take on removing the Rat Hole. “This sidewalk removal and replacement was in coordination with the Alderman's office and is funded through the 32nd Ward’s Aldermanic menu funds,” CDOT responded to Inside’s inquiry about how the removal came about.

“CDOT surveyed the sidewalk earlier this year and is replacing several other small sections of damaged sidewalk on Roscoe Street through CDOT's 311 hazardous sidewalk program,” wrote CDOT’s Erica Schroeder, the public information officer.

“[T]he square of concrete containing the "rat hole" is with CDOT's Division of In-House construction currently. Future plans are not confirmed, but I will certainly keep you posted once those are finalized.”

Stay tuned. We will have to see where the Rat Hole ends up.

SHAEF Veterans and Friends at Gettysburg

I went to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, for the annual meeting of the SHAEF Veterans and Friends Association. I am very jazzed because the weekend includes participation in the the Dwight D. Eisenhower Society and the Eisenhower Institute D-Day 80th Anniversary symposium at Gettysburg College.

 SHAEF stands for Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Forces. It was my father’s unit in the U. S. Army during WWII. My father passed away many years ago but my sister Pat and I are members of the association and go the the annual meetings.

Over the past few weeks I have been rereading, listening to actually, several books I have on D-Day in anticipation of the SHAEF meeting. Craig Symonds, “Operation Neptune. The Allied Invasion of Europe and the D-Day Landing,” (2014), Steven Ambrose, “D-Day,” (2002), and Cornelius Ryan, “The Longest Day,” (1959).  It has been some time since I read these books for the first time. It was useful to revisit them. They confirmed and refuted many things I thought I know about that momentous day.

Like so many historic events, there were many reasons why the invasion succeeded. I get the feeling from these books that it would have succeeded almost no matter what because of dopey things Hitler and the other Nazis did.

What I didn’t quite know was how the Americans stranded at the sea wall on Omaha Beach got off the beach. The destroyers came in close to the beach blasted installations on the bluff and in the draws.

The surviving men that landed made their way up the bluff and suppressed enough of the enemy for the survivors and successive waves to control the beach.

The other big controversy seems to be the opposing strategies of the German defense. Field Marshal Erwin Rommel wanted to defeat the invasion at the beaches. Field Marshal Gerd Von Rundstedt wanted to let the invaders land, then he would counter-attack with armored divisions outside the reach of naval guns. Would that have worked? Probably not. A million airplanes would have swarmed over the moving German units the same way they did in the Battle of Normandy. Without some air power, any air power, I don’t see how the Germans would have defeated division after division of American, British and Canadian troops that came ashore and would continue to come ashore for the next ten months.

The Germans might have done better under Von Rundstedt’s plan but that would have just meant that the Russians would have been defeated the Germans before the Americans got into Germany.

Yesterday we went to the Gettysburg National Military Museum and Visitors Center. Very interesting. Carol and I road around the area getting a feel for the topography and the distance between the matter engagements in the three day battle in July 1863. The Civil War is such a big subject I have not gotten very deep into it. Still being here and seeing the town with its 19th Century feel has been very interesting.

Today was the D-Day + 80+ Symposium at Gettysburg College. It was everything I expected and more. Susan Eisenhower, Doug Dowds, Craig Symonds and David Eisenhower were great speakers.

I really enjoyed Craig Symonds central thesis that the Destroyers saved the day on Omaha beach. I did not appreciate that until I reread the D-Day books in recent months. My wife Carol, my sister Pat and two of Pat’s friends also went to the Symposium. The seemed to enjoy it as well even though they are not quite the WWII nerds that I am.

That’s it. Battle of the Bulge, Battle of Midway, War in the Pacific and D-Day taken care of now. I’m gonna have to find a new WWII subject to take up now.

Lane v. Whitney Young

I went over to Kerry Wood Field Friday evening to catch the Lane v. Whitney Young baseball game. According to Max Preps, the Champions came into the game with an 8-0 record. Lane Head coach Sean Freeman corrected me when I asked about the spotless record saying that they dropped a couple split squad games to out-of-state teams on their Spring Break trip.

The Dolphins jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the first. Champions’ senior right handed pitcher Jack Davis gave up three singles, a walk and two runs with two out but settled down pitching five full innings allowing only one earned run with eleven strike outs and two walks.

I couldn’t stay for the whole game so it’s not going to get the full treatment and a story in the Booster. There will be time for that.

Sean Freeman’s Champions have three division one commits: senior first baseman Ethan Borggren (Northwestern), senior center fielder Henry Murray (Boston College) and freshman right fielder Sebastian Wilson. The talent is there for the Champions to have a great season.

It turns out that the Champions fell to Kenwood 6-4 on Saturday in what might be a telling look at the top teams in the Chicago Public League.

With the weather warming up and league play starting, I will be getting out to as many CPL and CCL games as I can.

The photos are not my best. It was coooold and I didn’t give it the full treatment. I am still getting back in the swing of taking baseball photos.

Reflections on the Feast of St. Patrick

My father was the Co-ordinator of the St. Patrick’s Day Parade from 1956 to 1991. St. Patrick’s Day has always been a special day for me and my family. My dad had a great deal to do with making Chicago’s St. Patrick’s Day what it is these days. Particularly, the dying of the Chicago River. In recent years, I have not made a big deal of it. Frankly, it is somewhat painful. I miss my dad, Daniel P. Lydon.

I am beginning to appreciate what St. Patrick’s Day has become. It is now largely a secular celebration of Irishness and Ireland. The entire Republic of Ireland has about 5.5 million people. That is about the same number of people in Cook County. Yet, Ireland and the Irish occupy such a large place in American popular culture. Ireland, it patron saint and its people enjoy their own American holiday. Perhaps not exactly a feast day of a Roman Catholic saint intended to celebrate the evangelization of the Emerald Isle to Christianity in the Fifth Century. But I, and I think, the rest of Irish America, don’t mind too much.

I enjoy, and take considerable pride in, the outsized influence the Celtic island on the edge of Europe has had in history and particularly the history of the United States and Chicago in particular.

I take pride, in the good sense, not pride in the sinful sense, in my Irish heritage and Irishness of America. The Irish—Irish Americans—have made Chicago the place it is. A good place. A friendly and productive place that has contributed to America and her people. I hope that we have brought the Irish skills and traits of good humor, hard work, faith, wit, charm, good looks and devotion to the American persona—especially the good looks part.

Enjoy the holiday. Don’t forget about St. Patrick. He taught the Irish to love. He made us who we are, like so many before and after him.

Rams Win 3A State Championship

[Preview of my Inside—Booster article.]

By Jack Lydon

Defense and free throws win games and state championships. The DePaul Prep Rams (35-2) defeated the Mount Carmel Caravan (32-6) to win IHSA 3A state championship. It’s DePaul’s second straight state championship who are believed to be the first time to win consecutive championship is two different classes, 2A and 3A.

The DePaul Prep’s second straight state championship is just the another in a string of successes in recent years: a 2A state championship last year, third-place finish in 2A in 2022, #1 ranking with wins over Fenwick and Evanston to win the Chipotle tournament in the COVID year and a third-place finish in 3A in 2019. The Rams are the winningest team in playoff finishes in the last five years.

The Rams and Caravan know each other well. They battled in February for the championship of the Chicago Catholic League, widely regarding as the top conference in the state this year. The first meeting had the feel of a heavy weight prize fight, or at least a Catholic League football game. The Rams prevailed 41-38 but the Caravan’s Lee Marks was out having broken his elbow in the game against Leo a week before. Marks adds so much to Mount Carmel as he proved in the semi-final against Mt. Zion.

No matter. The Rams opened the game in their usual fashion. DePaul Prep’s junior point guard Makai Kvamme, leading scorer for the Rams with 18 points, opened the scoring with a three pointer and then a layup off a turnover. The Rams added ten more and lead 15-7 at the end of the first quarter.

It’s best not to get behind DePaul Prep. Few teams are better at handling the ball and controlling the tempo. Maybe so but the Caravan has senior forward and Northwestern commit Angelo Ciaravino (24 points) is no ordinary player. Led by Ciaravino, the Caravan charged back in the third quarter.

The refs called the game much tighter than the refs did in the first matchup between the teams. Shortly into the third, DePaul Prep was called for three fouls in the space of four seconds off the game clock.

DePaul head coach Tom Kleinschmidt agreed the refs were calling the game tighter than he expected in a championship.

“I kind of lost my composure a little [with the refs]. That was my fault,” Kleinschmidt said.  

The Caravan cut the Rams lead to six points at the end of the third quarter and ramped up the defensive pressure in the fourth frame.

Championship experience and hours of free throw practice paid dividends for the Rams. Senior and All Area guard PJ Chambers was calm as could be. With the score 37-34, Chambers stepped up the line and dropped two free throws with a 1:44 to go. And then two more at 1:20. And then two more at 1:05.

It was Makai Kvamme’s turn at the line 50 seconds left. Two more free throws made. A layup by sophomore guard Rob Walls added two more points. Two more free throws at the end for Kvamme made it a 49-41 final. And a state championship, again.

“I don’t even have words. I am very excited. It’s amazing. It’s a pleasure to be part of this DePaul Prep program and to win so much,” said Rams’ point guard Makai Kvamme.

As to the free throws, Kvamme said, “I don’t think about it anymore. I am pretty confident. After the Normal game [where he missed two free throws with no time on the clock that could have sone it for the Rams], we worked on them every day because I missed those two free throws. I was upset obviously after the game. I just kept working,” Kvamme said.

Mount Carmel head coach Phil Segroves downplayed the tight calls. “I don’t know what the foul totals were. We did come out a little bit more aggressive [in the second half]. We knew that we had to play a little bit more up tempo. We were able to force some turnovers and get some quick buckets. That is where you saw the twelve-point lead cut to three,” Segroves said.

“We had the right scout on the wrong night. We had a great scout for DePaul Prep based on what we had seen and us playing them earlier in the year. Their guys did some stuff that we were not expecting. Their guys hit some big shots early. All the credit to Coach Kleinschmidt and DePaul Prep.”

It was a phenomenal season for the Rams. They won the Chicago Catholic League. It was the winningest season in school history, 35-2. Their only two losses were to the two teams that played for the 4A state championship Homewood-Flossmoor and Normal Community. They did it without starter junior guard Rob Walls for much of the season and junior forward and anticipated starter Jonas Johnson for most of the season.

They did it starting two seniors, two juniors and a sophomore. The sixth man was also a sophomore. They did without a lot of fanfare. They did it in a workmanlike fashion. They enjoyed themselves. And so did we.

Quick Trip to the Emerald Isle

As some may have deduced from careful examination of my Instagram posts, I went to Ireland the week before last. Just a quick trip to reset before the basketball playoffs got serious. I basically took the regionals off after the regular season. I figured I wouldn’t miss much this year which proved to be true. It was also a good time to take advantage of cheap airfares and off-season crowds.

We stayed a day in Dublin were we had a visit with my cousin Barbara and her friend Sen. Marie Sherlock. Barbara and Marie attended Trinity together some years ago. They were part of a group of Trinity students that lived in Chicago for the summer so we got to know Marie and the rest of their group pretty well.

Marie showed us around Lienster House, which is home of the Oireachtas Éireann, the legislature for the Republic of Ireland. We had a drink, a couple actually, in the “Dail Bar.” A actually pub inside the capital building just steps from the Dail chamber. Nice.

Then we went to Galway and set in different pubs. Didn’t did much else. Just had some pints and did nothing. It was glorious. I highly recommend it.

Here are some photos I took.

DePaul Prep Beats Richwoods 52-41 and Will Face Mount Carmel in State Championship

By Jack Lydon

The DePaul Prep Rams just keep winning. They defeated the red-hot Richwoods Knights 52-41 on Friday afternoon in the IHSA 3A semi-final in Champaign. They have not lost since the When Sides Collide shootout on January 20th.

DePaul Prep (34-2) advances to face the Mount Carmel Caravan in the 3A state championship game. For the second year in a row, the Rams will play in a state championship game. This time in 3A having moved up from 2A. It will be a rematch of the February 12th heavy weight prize fight for the Chicago Catholic League championship which the Rams won 41-38.

But let's not skip right past tonight's historic win. Richwoods' last three games were wins against Kankakee (27-5), Metamora (30-5) and Thornton (29-5) with a collective record of 86-15. The Knights are ranked first in the state by MaxPreps.com.

Oh, and Richwoods has Lathan Summerville who just might be the best player in the state. A giant 6-10 senior center, committed to Rutgers, that dominates the paint, can run the floor and shoot three-pointers.

Once again it was stellar defense and this time plenty of offense that drove the Rams to victory.  One cannot overstate the performance of the Rams’ defense and particularly, the work of sophomore forward Rashaun Porter. A truly remarkable effort by Porter against a top player on the biggest stage. The Rams held Summerville to 3 rebounds.

“I was prepared for it. Working on it everyday. It was hard at the start. But once you get into the game and then it’s just easy on defense,” Porter said of defending Summerville.

It was a total team defensive effort. Senior forward Jaylan McElroy and Porter bracketed Summerville. Rob Walls, PJ Chambers and Makai Kvamme turned off the outside shooting of Richwoods.

“[Summerville] is a very good player overall. He is really big,” said McElroy. “Our game plan was to surround him when he put the ball on the floor. We executed pretty well.”

“We wanted [Summerville] running into Shaun or running into Jaylan. So if we sandwiched him with two bigs and they skipped, you had Jaylan [McElroy] fronting with Shaun [Porter] on the backside. If they skipped the other way, you had Shaun on the front and Jaylan on the backside. So he was always running into size,” said DePaul Prep head coach and former DePaul University star Tom Kleinschmidt. 

The Rams were up to taking away Summerville. He finished with 18 points but only three rebounds. It was the defense against the rest of the team that cemented the victory. The only other Richwoods player in double figures was DaQuan Little with ten points.

“We stayed home on [Little]. He is shooting 44% from three. He shoots the hell out of the ball so we tried to stay home on him. [Tavie Smith] can make a shot. [Marion Herron] can make a shot. When you play a player like Summerville, you have to give something up. That’s what we were willing to give up.” They gave very little.

The defense was only half, and maybe not the most important half, of tonight’s performance by the Rams.

The Rams' offensive engine of Makai Kvamme (15 points), PJ Chambers (15 points) and Rob Walls (7 points) outscored the Knights in every quarter. Jaylan McElroy added four points and five rebounds.

Kavamme had some impressive buckets high off the glass and over Summerville. “I work on those shots a lot. I train with my dad. I know [Summerville] would be big. I knew I had to get it high on the glass in order to get a bucket,” said Rams junior guard Makai Kvamme.

The Rams outscored Richwoods in each of the quarters. The Knights rallied late in the third quarter and cut the Rams’ lead to two points at 28-26 but that was as close as they would get. Jaylan McElroy’s four points on two put-back buckets lifted the Rams.

The fourth quarter would feature Makai Kvamme with free throws, PJ Chambers with a steals and layups and Rob Walls with a layup and free throw. AJ Chambers added a free throw at the end for good measure.

DePaul Prep is taking its place as a premiere high school on the Northside, particularly when it comes to basketball. A state championship, a number one ranking in the COVID year with no playoffs, and two state third place finishes in the last six tries.

The move to 3A hasn’t been much a hurtle for the Rams. “A lot of guys talk about 2A. 2A is great. We don’t play a 2A schedule. The only time we play 2A teams is in our conference. There is probably three or four coaches down there that say we play in the best conference. This year we feel we do. We have been 3A before. This is our second time down here in 3A. We were 3A in 2019. Bogan beat us up,” said Kleinschmidt.

The Rams move on to face the Mount Carmel Caravan in the 3A State Championship game. Mount Carmel defeated Mt. Zion from far Southern Illinois 65-49. The Caravan saw the return of senior forward Lee Marks who has been out with a fractured elbow since February 6th.

“Marks is a difference maker. He is good. They are good. We know those guys. We know the coaches. We know what they are going to do and they know what we are going to do. It’s going to be fun. I am glad we are playing a Catholic League team,” said Kleinschmidt.

Rams senior PJ Chambers received both All City and All Area first team honors. “I am blessed. I was very surprised. I am very thankful to be awarded these type of accolades,” said senior guard/forward PJ Chambers. “Whoever we play tomorrow, we are going to battle it out and hopefully we win.”

“We play a lot of good teams on our schedule. We will face the adversity and overcome it.”

Back to the State Finals for DePaul Prep with 51-31 Win over Crystal Lake South

By Jack Lydon

The DePaul Prep Rams’ third quarter adjustments to the Crystal Lake South Gators high pressure 1-3-1 defense opened a lead for the Rams and propelled them to Champaign, again. They booked their 33rd win against two losses with the 51-31 win over the Crystal Lake Gators (31-5) in the IHSA 3A Super-sectional playoff at the Now Arena in Hoffman Estates Monday evening and a berth in this weekend’s IHSA State basketball championship tournament.

The Rams will need another great plan and the same flexibility when they on Peoria Richwoods in Friday’s IHSA 3A state semi-final.

Rams senior guard/forward PJ Chambers lead the Rams with 18 points but, as usual, it was the Rams’ defense and third quarter offensive adjustments that lifted DePaul Prep, the way actual rams might navigate through a pack of gators.

“[Crystal Lake’s] defense is a nightmare. We struggled in the first half. You saw it. They got a million deflections. They have length. They are good at it. They do [the 1-3-1] a little differently where they it push up. Once you get across half court, they are coming for you,” said Rams’ head coach and former Gordon Tech and DePaul University star Tom Kleinschmidt.

“Their length really bothered us. We took too many jumpers in the first half. We needed to drive the ball and get some gaps. They made it tough on us.”

Gator’s junior point guard AJ Demirov clearly was the stray that was also the drink for the Gators.

“We wanted to make sure that [Demirov] saw a player and a half. We tried to keep him away from the basket as best we could,” Kleinschidt said.

The Gators’ offence consisted of Demirov, 10 points, and small contributions each of the rest of the starting lineup. The problem was that Demirov was taking the bulk of the shots for Crystal Lake South and had only four field goals (of which only one was a three) and one free throw.  

“We wanted to meet him at the elbow or the [free throw line] so he couldn’t get into the paint and had to take tougher shots. We didn’t do a great job in the first half but okay. In the second half, we did a much better job of showing him a man and a half or two men,” Kleinschmidt continued.

The first half was pretty even except for the end. With the clock ticking down to the half, Demirov drove the lane for an underhanded layup and the foul with 3.2 to play. He added the free throw to bring the Gators within seven.

Not to be outdone, Rams’ clutch, silky smooth junior point guard Makai Kvamme took the inbound pass down the length of the court and banked in a three off the glass.

“What a momentum builder to walk into the locker room,” Kleinshmidt said of Kvamme’s buzzer beater.

“It looked good but I was like, ‘this ain’t gonna happen.’ It caught glass and went in—a huge momentum builder going up ten into the locker room with the ball coming out in the third.”

In the second half, “we put three guards in a triangle. We wanted to reverse a couple times. The more times the ball goes side-to-side the gaps will get open. We got it to the middle to [PJ Chambers] or his brother [sophomore guard AJ Chambers] and we either got straight line drives or dump offs. Shaun had two dunks with dump offs,” Kleinschmidt said.

“You can watch all the film you want. Until you take the court and see it, the physicality, the athleticism, how they rally to the ball. It’s tough to prepare for,” said Crystal Lake head coach Matt LaPage said of DePaul Prep’s defense.

“In the third quarter, they came at us not only offensively but defensively—just stifling. It’s a special defense. It’s as good as advertised. That’s for sure.”

Of the defensive effort, DePaul Prep’s PJ Chambers said, “What we did really well was contain [Demirov]. That was the game plan. If we could take him out of the equation, it was very possible for us to win,” said PJ Chambers.

“We’ve got our defensive stoppers. We’ve got Jay, Rob, Makai, AJ, even me at times. All of us play our roles really well. It came down to guarding #4 [Demirov], especially Rob, Kai and Jay at times, they excelled greatly.”

If Demirov was the main ingredient in the drink for Crystal Lake South, Chambers was DePaul’s secret sauce on offense for DePaul Prep. Eighteen points including an early three that got him going.

“Right. That’s how I play. If I am hot early in the game, then I keep shooting. If it starts to die down, I know I have to switch my game up,” Chambers said.

It wasn’t all Chambers by any means. It was a total team victory. Senior center Jaylan McElroy finished with nine points including two steals with layups finishes late in the game. Junior guard Rob Walls had nine points and eight rebounds. Kvamme had eight points with the big three to close the first half. Sophomore forward Rashaun Porter had five. Sophomore AJ Chambers added a field goal.

Of his historic defense, Kleinschmidt offered this: “Our strength is our defense and it’s because we can switch 1 to 5. They can all guard somebody for a little while. Even our guards can front the post long enough so help can get there on the back side. And our bigs can move their feet well enough until the help comes. That is the strength of our team that we can switch one through five and everybody can guard.”

More than just the switching, the Rams had a plan for Demirov and his sharp-shooting mates.

“We know they’ve got shooters all over. We didn’t want to leave corners [in order to cover Demirov]. They are a great shooting team. So we wanted to help with the big instead of the guards in the corner. If I help off the corner, [Demirov] is going to drive [and] kick. We took away one of his options. We wanted to see them make tough twos instead of threes,” said Kleinschmidt.

This has been an historic season for the DePaul Prep Rams. 33-2 is most wins in school history. The Rams only losses this year are to two teams, Homewood-Flossmoor and Normal Community, who are both still alive in the 4A final four.

The Rams have put together quite a string of successes in recent years: a 2A state championship last year, third-place finish in 2A in 2022, #1 ranking with wins over Fenwick and Evanston to win the Chipotle tournament in the COVID year with no playoffs and a third place finish in 3A in 2019.

Crystal Lake South had themselves an historic year as well. The Gators were ranked at points this season. They entered the Sun-Times Super 25 on January 21, 2024, at 25th spot. 25th on January 28, 2024. February 4, 2024, at 24. They fell out on February 11th. Prior to this year, the Gators had not won a sectional in 41 years. Coach Matt LaPage is 172-138 in 11 years as head coach.

The Rams move on to play Richwoods from Peoria on Friday morning in the IHSA 3A semi-final in Champaign. Richwoods (29-4) is coming off an impressive 58-52 victory over third ranked Thornton on Monday.

Richwoods is for real. Of Richwoods’ senior center Latham Summerville, basketball analyst Scott Burgess wrote, “No doubt about it Lathan Sommerville was the best player on the floor in [the Thornton] game. He was dominant from the very beginning of the contest. Big and physically imposing post dropped 32 points and double-digit boards. He took out the #1 and #2 ranked players in his class in back-to-back games along with the defending state champs [Moline] to lead his team to Champaign.”

It only gets tougher for the Rams.

[Blogger’s note: My thanks to my friend James Janega, a former Tribune reporter, for looking at this piece and offering some suggestions. I have landed some blows in my fight with the English language but I will need many more sparing sessions to get where I need to be.]

DePaul Prep Defeats Lake Forest 38-21; Wins St. Viator 3A Sectional

#4 ranked DePaul Prep Rams (32-2) defeated the Lake Forest Scouts (25-8) 38-21 to win IHSA 3A Sectional at St. Viator Friday evening. It was a matchup of the #1 seed against the #2 seed. The Scouts were ranked a couple times this year last appearing at #20 on February 4, 2023, in the Sun-Times Super 25.

“I think by far [DePaul Prep is] the best coached defensive team that I have ever seen in high school basketball,” said Lake Forest head coach Phil LaScala. It was that defensive pressure in third quarter that turned the tide for the Rams.

Both teams knew what they wanted to do—play defense. That they did. The first half ended 11-11. If anything was proved in the first half, it was that the Scouts know how to pass the ball. Taking shots for the sake of taking shots is not a thing for them. Let’s call their shot selection—selective. One might even say deliberate.

The usual offensive formula for the Rams was not working either. Senior All City and All Area forward/guard PJ Chambers was scoreless in the first half. So was senior forward and third team All City forward Jaylan McElroy. Junior guard Makai Kvamme lead the Rams in the first half with four of the Rams’ 11 points including a clutch layup at the close of the half to draw the Rams even. Junior guard Rob Walls dropped a three in the first quarter. Sophomore AJ Chambers added a field goal late in the second quarter.   

“We knew they would go 1-3-1 [defense]. I didn’t think they would start in it. We thought he would go man and then go 1-3-1. He started in it and that through us off. When he got out of it and we got downhill and their size was waiting on us. It bothered us,” said DePaul Prep head coach Tom Kleinschmidt.

The half court pressure by the Rams coming out of the half was the difference. “We picked up pressure. We did not sit back. We picked them up a half court. We tagged them all over and we trapped some things,” Kleinschmidt added.

“We had to change the pace of the game. If we would have gone on like that they would have beat us or it would have been a one possession game so we had to use our athleticism.

Rams junior guard Rob Walls got a steal and a layup to open the third quarter. Then Jaylan McElroy with steal and a dunk to open a what felt like a gigantic four-point lead. Four steals by the Ram on the first six Scouts’ possessions turned the tide. The Rams opened a 27-15 lead at the end of the third. With so few points being scored it felt like a huge lead.

“The sped us up a little bit. Our turnovers killed us and they got some easy baskets off the turnovers. That’s a big part of their game. They are the best defensive team that I have seen in the state. I watched a lot of film on them. I have watched them play a lot,” LaScala said.

It wasn’t all Rams. Lake Forest’s junior forward Hudson Scroggins was impressive with seven of the Scouts eleven points in the first half. But there simple weren’t very many points to be had for the Scouts.

With his team scoring so few points, LaScala had to do something. At the start of the fourth quarter the Scouts started fouling.

“I think they were trying to get in the bonus and make us shoot free throws,” Kleinschmidt said. “He was going to speed us up with traps and hopefully get turnovers. And he got them. But we came back down and got stops.

It wouldn’t be enough. The Rams can hold the ball. The Rams can make free throws. It ended 38-21 Rams.

After that game, Rams junior guard Rob Walls said, “[g]oin into [the third quarter] I knew we were going to need something, a spark for the team. The steals and layups brought us back into the game.”

Walls was indeed the spark the Rams needed with the size of Lake Forest neutralizing the play of McElroy and sophomore forward Rashawn Porter on the boards and the smothering coverage of high scoring PJ Chambers.

Walls was out with an injury much of the middle part of the season. “I feel dedicated to just keep working. Everyday in practice I keep working my best to get back in shape. Just running with these guys. Running with PJ and AJ; it’s helped me. It’s helped me big time,” said Walls.

The Rams move on to play Kaneland sectional winner Crystal Lake South (31-3) in the 3A Super-sectional game Monday at the NOW Area in Hoffman Estates.

DePaul Prep Defeats Notre Dame 46-16; Advance to Face Lake Forest in Sectional Final

The DePaul Prep Rams (32-2) defeated the Notre Dame Dons (16-18) 46-16 last night in the St. Viator 3A Sectionals semi-final. The Rams advance to play the Lake Forest Scouts on Friday at 7:00 p.m. in the sectional final.

Lake Forest handled a scrappy if undersized Ridgewood Rebels squad 59-32 in last night’s second game.

DePaul Prep Defeats Mount Carmel 41-38; Win Chicago Catholic League

Here is a preview of this week’s story in the Inside—Booster:

By Jack Lydon

This was a heavy weight prize fight between two top teams, #4 ranked DePaul Prep (27-2, 8-0) and #7 Mount Carmel Caravan (26-5, 6-2), with top players, Jaylan McElroy and Angelo Ciaravino, for the Catholic League Championship. The Almighty must have wanted to save this game for end of season and cast the City of Chicago into a deep freeze on its regularly scheduled day causing the postponement to the end of the season.

This was not only the best game in town Monday night; it was the best game of the season and everyone knew would be. DePaul Prep’s Tom Winiecki Gym as packed. There was an unconfirmed report that Taylor Swift and Travis Kelse snuck into the balcony seats after the game started but I did not see them.

The Rams fell behind 10-2 midway through the first quarter. Their shots were not falling. Mount Carmel scored inside early. Two things that typically do not happen. The Rams typically own the first quarter and give up very few points inside and trailed 14-8 at the end of the first quarter.

“They kept their composure. We talked about it. We have been there before. We are 13-1 in the playoffs the last two years. They have seen everything from down twelve with 2:50 to go to double overtime and overtime at Leo. They have seen a lot. It’s a thirty-two minute game,” said DePaul Prep head coach Tom Kleinschmidt.

The Rams rallied in the second quarter with stellar defense holding the Caravan to five points and going into halftime tied at 19-19. This would be one of those games decided in the last minute.

In the second half, the Rams came out of the gate scoring opening a seven-point lead at one point in the third quarter. But Mount Carmel is too good to go away quietly. The Caravan’s best player, Angelo Ciaravino, the fourth ranked player in the class of 2024, made his presence felt scoring 14 of his 18 points in the second half.    

“We did a poor job on [Ciaravino] late. We had some poor execution defensively. He is that good of a player. He going to the Big Ten for a reason,” Kleinschmidt said.

The game was tied at thirty-eight each late. The defenses were tough. A steal by DePaul Prep’s PJ Chambers led to a foul that stopped Chambers from a layup. The gym screamed for an intentional foul as Mount Carmel’s player wrapped up Chambers with both arms. Chambers free throw game the Rams a one-point lead.

Mount Carmel’s Ciaravino fifth foul caused another stoppage and a blizzard condemnation from the Caravan’s head coach Phil Segroves.

Two more free throws by sophomore forward Rashawn Porter game the Rams a three-point lead. The Caravan had the ball down three points and a chance to tie the game with a little over ten seconds to play. Point guard Noah Mister drove the lane, his right foot slide, he put his left for down, leaned back picking up his right foot, shot the ball which went in. A whistle rang out. The gym collectively growned thinking it was a shooting foul and Mister would have a chance to tie the game.

No. The call was traveling. The ref waived off for basket. DePaul Prep got the ball.

The Rams held on in the final few seconds winning 41-38 to secure the Chicago Catholic League championship for the first time since the 2018-2019 season. Their sole Catholic League championship since the Gordon Tech days.

“First goal is done, yes,” said Kleinschmidt of the championship. “It’s everything. It’s the best league in the state by far. One of the best in the Midwest. There are a couple places to be greedy in basketball. Winning, winning it all and at the free throw line you get greedy. We are extremely proud of being undefeated in the best league in the stat and one of the best in the Midwest. 27-2, just tied a school record.”

“We just took what they game us,” said DePaul Prep’s leading scorer, senior forward PJ Chambers, with 20 points said.

“It was very important to win the Catholic League. Coach [Kleinschmidt] was very clear on what it means to win the Catholic League championship by ourselves. It’s so nice to win it all by ourselves.” Technically, the Rams had secured at least a three way share of the Championship with Brother Rice’s defeat of Mount Carmel the previous Friday.

What’s the second goal?

“State baby!” Chambers said. The Rams enter the IHSA 3A division state championship tournament next week. They open the in the Carmel Catholic regional in Mundelein on Tuesday. As the number one seed, the Rams will initially face the winner of the Grayslake North and Amundsen and then the winner of Wauconda and Carmel Catholic.

Simeon Edges Lane 53-50

The Lane Tech Champions (17-11, 7-2) hosted reigning IHSA 3A runner-up Simeon Wolverines (14-13, 6-2) in the Chicago Public League quarter-final at Lane Tech on Wednesday. The Champions defeated Whitney Young for the first time in memory on January 24th, could Simeon be next?

None of the Lane Tech fans wanted talk about such a thing as they waited for the Wolverines to arrive at Lane. Lane Tech defeated Perspective ITT and Crane to move up to the CPL playoffs’ quarterfinal and the chance to defeat Simeon. Simeon defeated Dunbar and Brooks and would have to travel up to the Northside to take on Lane.

This is not your father’s Simeon Wolverines. Not even your brothers. Legendary Simeon basketball coach Robert Smith is enjoying his first year of retirement. Last year’s Rubin brothers have moved onto division one college basketball.

Smith’s long time understudy Tim Flowers is at the helm of the Wolverines this year. Flower’s 2023-24 Wolverines start one returning player, Rashad “RJ” McKinnie and four talented but inexperienced sophomores Lorenzo Shields, Kassidy Nelson, Jocahana Pullum and Andre Taylor.

Lane played right with the Wolverines in the first quarter. Lane’s junior center Dalton Scantlebury had 5 points and senior guard Shadeed Solebo had 5 but the Champions trailed 16-14.

The second quarter began to show the Champions weaknesses. If Lane was going to come up with another huge win in this winning season, they would need not only big games from Scantlebury and Solebo, they would need their outside shooters Brandon Labkon and Parker Williams to drain some threes. No threes in the first half for the Champions. Simeon opened a 31-21 lead at the half.

Not much better for the Champions in the third quarter. They were making foul shots and working the boards very well against the young Simeon squad but still trailed by nine at the end of the third. Simeon’s senior leader RJ McKinnie was playing lights with 14 points in the first half and finished with a game high 22 points.

Nick LoGalbo’s Champions never quit. Seven unanswered points by the Lane got them right back in it midway through the fourth quarter. The Champions trailed by only four points and had all the momentum. Simeon was not done. They added free throws at the end keep their lead.  Lane’s Parker Williams and Brandon Labkon added a couple huge buckets after Shaheed Solebo fouled out. The Champions trailed but three in the final seconds and had the ball after a critical Simeon turnover.

It was not to be. A miss and a turnover robbed the Champions of a chance to tie.

It was an emotional win for the Simeon Wolverines who have struggled at time this season.

“It’s been a big road for me. Last year I played with all seniors. It was easy. But this year I have to be more of a leader and lead the younger kids. It’s hard [to take that on]. Everybody wants to beat Simeon,” said Simeon senior guard RJ McKinnie.

Simeon moved on to play Curie in the City Championship semi-final on Thursday but lost to top seed Curie Condors 75-51.

McKinnie lead all scorers with 22. Lane’s Dalton Scantlebury had 15 and Brandon Labkon 14

Reflections on the Basketball Season, So Far

Before the season started, I made a list of my goals for the basketball season. The season is quickly drawing to a close. Just a few games left in the regular season. It has flown by.

In looking back at my goals, I have done a pretty good job achieving them. One part I did not get to was covering Payton and Lincoln Park. I also did not get a story about a girls’ game published. I tried to do those things. There just was not enough time among to press of other matters.

Several years ago, I wrote that the season was four three different parts. Thanksgiving to Christmas, Christmas, regular season in January and February and finally playoffs. That is a little different for me now. It’s more like there are two different seasons going on at the same time: tournaments and shootouts and League games.

The tournaments and shootouts are about seeing how good one’s team is and getting ready for the league games and the playoffs.

The league games are the ones that matter. The playoffs are, well, the playoffs. The first rule of fight club (playoffs) is you do not talk about fight club (playoffs). Until the playoffs. Even so, I have spent a lot of time studying the sectional assignments evaluating the various paths of many teams through the playoffs. But I will not speculate about that here.

I ought to have stopped to reflect on the season before this point. I might have enjoyed the season more had I done so. I have enjoyed the work of it. I have enjoyed getting better, and faster, as a writer. I still need to keep working on getting better as a photographer. I have concentrated more on the writing because that needed a lot more work.

With the photography, I have scaled back on taking, processing and publishing so many photos. I have tried to take better photos. Photos that I find interesting. I have tried, and mostly failed, to get at least one Kirsten Stickney signature reaction shot. It eludes me. I will keep trying.

I have enjoyed the season very much. It’s been great fun watching a team have some much success but not let it go to their heads. Somehow, they are remarkable grounded. Not really impressed with themselves. Not at all upset about a lack of sufficient recognition. They are just playing the games on the schedule and having fun doing it.

So here we are, the last few games of the season. Then the playoffs. Crunch time. Strangely, I am not the least bit nervous. I am just looking forward to seeing what happens. Let’s go.

DePaul Prep Defeats St. Ignatius 57-40

Preview of my story this week in the Inside—Booster.

By Jack Lydon

The #8 ranked DePaul Prep Rams went into St. Ignatius and did what they do—play defense. The Rams held the Wolfpack to just four points in the first half and finished with a 57-40 victory over St. Ignatius. Improving their overall record to 24-2, this game also moved the Rams closer to winning the Chicago Catholic League Blue Division champion where the Rams are 5-0 with three conference games still to play.

The atmosphere in St. Ignatius Gentile Gym was electric. The gym was full. The game was on TV. A cohort of toga wearing St. Ignatius students heckled the Rams as the warmed up. The beach attired DePaul Prep students heckled the Wolfpack as they warmed up. Parents, teachers and even a former Chicago mayor filled the stands.  

Such is the stuff of a rivalry game. The Rams have three wins and two losses to St. Ignatius in the last four years. Both teams have been in the state finals the last two years. This is a proper rivalry game. Either team could win.

“It’s a rivalry game. They are well coached. They’ve got great players. This is one of the hardest places to play in the League. And we know them. They know us,” said DePaul Prep’s Tom Kleinschmidt.

“We were ready to guard. We talk about guarding. It’s hard to prepare [for our switching defense] in practice. And I have got five guys that can guard five positions so it makes it tougher,” Kleinschmidt continued

Guard they did. The Rams got every rebound in the first quarter at both ends. Every St. Ignatius shot was opposed. Only one shot went in. The score at the end of the first quarter was Rams 12, Wolfpack 2.

It was no better for the Wolfpack in the second quarter. The Rams’ defense was just on another level. Guards Makai Kavamme, AJ Chambers, Rob Walls were in the face of every St. Ignatius shooter. As was Rams’ wing/forward PJ Chambers.

But it was inside where the Rams’ defense dazzled. Senior forward Jaylan McElroy was everywhere. He dominated the paint. He grabbed rebounds. He blocked shots. If he could not get the rebound outright, he tipped the ball so his teammates could scramble to get it, which they did. Right with him in controlling the lane was Rams’ sophomore forward Rashawn Porter pretty much doing the same thing.

The Rams lead 25-4 at halftime.

St. Ignatius head coach Matt Monroe rallied his team at the half. They were a different team coming out of the locker room. Wolfpack senior guard Phoenix Gill, son of former University of Illinois star and 15-year NBA veteran Kendall Gill, dialed up his game a few notches. Held scoreless in the first half, Gill scored seventeen in the second half. Similarly, St. Ignatius senior Reggie Ray, scoreless in the first half, put in eleven points in the second half.

Don’t let the Rams’ next level defense let you think that’s all they have. The Rams can and do spread the ball around and score inside and out. Jaylan McElroy had sixteen points. Senior wing/forward PJ Chambers likewise had sixteen points. Junior point guard Makai Kvamme had thirteen. One does not want to get behind DePaul Prep. They do not turn the ball over, can break a press and make free throws.

“We knew that in order to win we had to get as many rebounds as we can. Keep them off the glass like we did. In the first half we just kept playing our game,” said Jaylan McElroy.

“We have been on TV lots of time. We were downstate last year. This was a rivalry game but we looked at it as another game. Just play our game and not look ahead,” said Rams’ senior forward Jaylan McElroy.

The schedule gets no easier for DePaul. They face DeLaSalle on Tuesday, Fenwick on Friday and then #5 Mount Carmel next Monday and #6 Benet the following Friday to close the regular season.

DePaul Prep 60, Providence 32

The DePaul Prep Rams defeated Providence Catholic 60-32 on Tuesday evening at the DePaul Prep’s Tom Winiecki Gym. The Rams improve to 23-2 overall record and 4-0 in the Chicago Catholic League Blue Division.

The season is quickly drawing to a close with only five games left, St. Ignatius, DeLaSalle, Fenwick, Mount Carmel and Benet. The next four games will decide who wins the Catholic League. The Mount Carmel game will be a home game for the Rams. It is a rescheduled game from a couple weeks ago when we were supposed to have a foot of snow that never materialized. The basketball gods must have caused the postponement to draw out the excite to the penultimate game of the season.

Here are some photos from last night’s DePaul Prep v. Providence game.

DePaul Prep 67, IC Catholic Prep 21

The IC Catholic Prep Knights traveled into Chicago to take on the DePaul Prep Rams in the Tom Winiecki Gym. The Knights didn’t have enough. The Rams jumped out to an early lead and stayed away getting the underclassmen into the game late. Rams 67, Knights 21.

Waubonsie Valley Handles Plainfield East 65-35

I went out to Waubonsie Valley high school in Aurora to see the fourth ranked and undefeated Warriors take on conference opponent Plainfield East. I was taking pictures so I couldn’t do much more than keep track of the score but I am quite sure that Plainfield East had more turnovers in the first half than they had shots. Plainfield East did not play well.

Waubonsie Valley made them pay. The Warriors finished on layups and a couple dunks, hit some threes and showed some impressive ball movement.

I can’t say I was particularly impressed with Waubonsie’s defense. They opposed shots but they did regularly give up penetration in the paint. East’s shots mostly missed.

The Warriors handled East 65-35 in a game that lasted little more than an hour.

I wanted to see if Waubonsie Valley is really good given its gaudy win-loss record or if they just haven’t played anybody. I looked through the Warrior’s schedule. They haven’t played a ranked team but they have beaten a very good Normal Community team that is not part of Michael O’Brien’s Chicago area rankings. I saw Normal Community just edge DePaul Prep at the When Sides Collide shootout last weekend. They are big and quite good. Even so our plucky DePaul Prep Rams teams very nearly defeated Normal so I would not say Normal is a great team.

I have seen Curie, Homewood-Flossmoor and Thornton, the teams that rank ahead of Waubonsie Valley. Waubonsie is not as good as any of those teams.

As for the teams behind Waubonsie, Mount Carmel, Benet, Bloom, Downers Grove North, Warren, DePaul Prep and Brother Rice. I would have to say that most of these teams are as good or better than Waubonsie.

In a week, we will get a chance to see how good Waubonsie is when they take on #12 Bollingbrook. Mark your calendars.

That being written, 22-0 is impressive. They deserve the high rank. Going undefeated in any league, in any sport, in any conference is hard, hard, hard to do. So #4 they are and so they should stay. At least until we see how they do against Bolingbrook.

DePaul Prep Defeats Leo 62-23 on Senior Night

The DePaul Prep Rams defeated Leo Friday night 62-23 at home. It was senior night. The school also honored academic standouts and hosted a faculty appreciation night. The full house saw the Rams hitting on all cylinders with significant contributions from deep into the bench.

The Rams improve their record to a previously unattained 21-2 overall and 4-0 in the Chicago Catholic League. Certainly the best record that I have seen more than two-thirds of the way through a DePaul Prep/Gordon Tech season. Maybe not the toughest but the most important part of the season lies ahead—key Chicago Catholic League matchups.

The Rams have IC Catholic Providence, St. Ignatius, DeLaSalle, Mount Carmel and Fenwick left to play. Plus today’s game against Wisconsin powerhouse Peewaukee and the regular season finale against Benet.

One game at a time.

Lane Tech Defeats Whitney Young 67-51

Preview of my story this week in Inside-Booster.

The biggest win for Lane Tech in decades. The Lane Tech Champions (14-10, 7-2) defeated the Whitney Young Dolphins (12-10, 5-2) 67-51 in a jam-packed crosstown rivalry and conference showdown. No one could remember the last time Lane defeated Young. One would never have known that from the energy in Lane’s gym. Two overflowing student sections and the rest of the gym packed with spectators were rocking at a deafening pitch from before the game even started.

Lane’s senior shooting guard Shaheed Solebo was the story of the first half. He had 11 of the Champions’ 14 first quarter points and kept it up with 11 more points in the second quarter.

“[Shaheed’s] been on a run the last two weeks. He put on a show Monday [against Lincoln Park,] said Lane Tech head coach Nick LoGalbo. Lincoln Park (17-8, 6-3) was ranked #15 coming out of the holiday tournaments but that Champions dropped Lincoln Park 75-64 in the Lion’s tiny (and poorly lit) gym.

“He knew what this game was. He battled and battled the entire game. He was super aggressive for us. He made the kicks when he needed to. He commanded so much attention, it opened things up for other guys especially in the second half. He was awesome,” LoGalbo said of Solebo.

Solebo knew what this game was and was determined to beat Whitney Young in his last try at them. This game had more intensity a playoff game. It was personal. The two student sections cheered back and forth at each other. The Champions and their fans were sick of losing to Whitney Young and this was the night to end it. The players were focused but a little tight to open the game missing usually makable shots.

“We had high expectations coming in. We had a preseason ranking which did wonders for our team’s ego. We struggled through injuries. We really didn’t have our team the whole month of December with Dalton being out,” LoGalbo said.

The Champions and their big man in the middle, junior center Dalton Scantlebury, did a great job limiting Whitney Young to one shot in the first half.

“That’s been an all-season struggle. I was really impressed with the way we rebounded as a team. We have struggled this season boxing out as a unit. I get a majority of our rebounds so sometimes other people lag a little. Today we all really come together,” Scantlebury said.

Despite the Solebo’s huge first half, Lane went into halftime only up 31-26. Halftime adjustments by Whitney Young’s legendary coach Tyrone Slaughter might spell disaster for the Champions who might struggle to keep up their intensity in the second half.

“Dalton came out a little flat. He missed some [shots] that he has been putting in for us pretty consistently,” LoGalbo said of Scantlebury.

Scantlebury proved his place as a top public league player in the second half. Dalton dropped a three-point play inside early in the third quarter freeing up Solebo to keep up his scoring.

“Best one-two punch in the City when those two guys are playing well together,” LoGalbo said about Solebo and Scantlebury.

The second half was not all Solebo and Scantlebury. Timely open three-pointers from senior guard Parker Williams and senior guard Jackson Labkon took the life out of any third quarter comeback by the Dolphins. Junior guard Kenneth Rosario added a three-pointer to start the fourth quarter.

Even so, the Dolphins were hanging around keeping the Champions’ lead under ten points.

“We had [the lead] to ten or eleven and just didn’t turn the corner until the fourth quarter. That is a sign of what we are still trying to prove. If we are going to be the team we say we want to be we have got to smell the blood in the water and put them away,” LoGalbo said after the game.

This was Lane’s night. The energy in the gym never dissipated. There would be no let down. Good teams finish. And that’s what these Champions did.

“We felt like let’s get into our delay game then they will start fouling. We will get some easy ones at the line. At about thirty seconds, we would run our stuff. If it is not there on the back door, let’s just reset. And that’s what we did. One time we got in the set and we scored. The other times we got a few back doors and it worked out,” said LoGalbo.

The last points were scored by Whitney Young with 1:18 left in the game. They would get no closer with the final score 67-51. It was a convincing win for Lane over Whitney Young. One that was decades in the making.

Even with the contributions of Scantlebury and timely threes by Labkon, Williams and Rosario, make no mistake, it was the force of will and the 34 points by senior standout Shaheed Solebo that brought home the historic victory to Lane. His presence, production and leadership on the floor made the difference.

“We knew how good we were since last Spring. We knew it. Now we are just showing everybody else,” said Shaheed Solebo.   

DePaul Prepare Beats Brother Rice 55-46 in CCL Showdown

A preview of my Inside—Booster article for this week:

The #11 DePaul Prep Rams (18-1, 3-0) defeated the #9 Brother Rice Crusaders (19-3, 3-1) at Brother Rice Friday evening taking a big step toward to winning the Chicago Catholic League championship.

The Rams and the Crusaders are two of the top three teams in the Chicago Catholic League Blue division. The other being fourth ranked Mount Carmel. There are, of course, quite a few League games left for the Rams to play, including Mount Carmel, St. Ignatius, Montini, Leo, IC Catholic, Providence, DeLaSalle and Fenwick but the winner of this game is set up for a showdown with Mount Carmel, the only other undefeated team in League play, to decide the eventual winner of the Chicago Catholic League. DePaul Prep will face Mount Carmel at home on February 12th.

The Rams opened the game taking their time to shoot the ball. The signature quick ball movement by the Rams seemed even more exaggerated then DePaul head coach Tom Kleinschmidt’s usual game plan.

“We wanted to them play at our pace with our short bench,” Kleinschmit said. Junior guard and defensive specialist Rob Walls and junior forward Jonas Johnson were out with injuries for this key League game.

“We wanted to make them go side-to-side defensively. If we would have gone up and done and gotten into a running game with them, we would have gotten beat,” Kleinschmidt added.

“We were ready and executed the game plan perfectly. We wanted to take good open shots.”

The plan worked. The Rams grabbed an early lead on the strength of two three-points early in the first quarter by senior guard and offensive sparkplug PJ Chambers. PJ added two free-throws at the end of the first quarter lifting the Rams to a 14-6 lead.

Rams’ center Jaylan McElroy picked up his third foul with 3:30 left in the half which forced Kleinschmidt to go to the bench earlier than me might have liked. But the Rams hung on taking an eleven point lead into halftime.

Brother Rice was simply too good to just go away. The Crusaders worked their way back from seven down at the end of the third to force overtime holding the Rams to five points in the fourth. Holding the ball has a way of limiting a teams’ scoring.

Overtime was a whole different thing. Once again PJ Chambers made an early statement by draining a deep three-pointer that felt like it came from the Rams’ bench. The Rams defense held the Crusaders to just two points in the extra frame and the Rams won going away 55-46. After Chamber early three, the Rams added six free-throws.

 “[Sophomore guard and PJ’s younger brother] AJ [Chambers] really grew up tonight. Shawn [Rashawn Porter] grew up about five or six games ago, probably the Christmas tournament [referring to Porter’s standout performance in the comeback victory in the Hinsdale Central Holiday Classic semifinal against Oswego East]. AJ Chambers was able to give Makai [Kvamme] a break. He has been handling the ball for us for 32 minutes,” Kleinschmidt said praising his young player’s effort.

As for the Rams’ signature defense, Kleinschmidt said, “the switching really bothers guys if you don’t see it coming. And then, we do ‘front the post’ (meaning playing in from of the big man underneath the basket) with backside help. It’s part of our system. It’s hard [for other teams to] duplicate in practice. We are just used to doing it. It’s hard to prepare for.”

The Rams defense came through mightily in limiting Brother Rice’s stand out senior guard Cale Cosme to ten points. Cosme is the engine that drives the Crusaders.

“I just love to watch [Cosme] play. He is tough. He is a hard-nosed. He’s a good player. We wanted to tag him a little bit. We wanted to keep him out of the paint because he is such a great penetrator. He snuck around on us a little bit. But I think we did a nice job on him.”

Rams senior guard PJ Chambers came through for the Rams early in the first quarter. Two consecutive three-pointers lifted the Rams to an 8-2 lead. That set the tone for the Rams to make Brother Rice play their game.

Chamber could hardly contain himself after the game. “I was excited. I was happy. I was ready to play. I’m too excited, I can hardly speak right now,” Chambers said.

Chambers lead all scorers with 24 points; his highest scoring game of the season. Twenty-two points was Chambers previous top scoring game this season.

“When I got the free throw line [with 57.7 left in the fourth quarter], I said to myself, ‘please let me get past 22.’ When I hit them I was like, ‘yes!’” said Chambers.

The Rams move onto play Normal Community High School on Saturday at the When Side Collide Shootout at Benet Academy. Then it’s back into the Catholic League schedule with Montini and Leo next week.